Feel like taking a look? Visit http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-db2JSONpt1

Now I had a copy of all the branches in GPX 1.1, which is pretty useful but quite boring to just text search.

So I decided to use pureXML to do the work for me. I didn’t want to have to create a new database / table / etc so for the sake of saving time I decided to use the pureXML Industry Demo, which happens to support GPX. After inserting the document – added schema validation just to test it – I could now query the data and retrieve what I want using either XQuery or SQL/XML. According to that page all the XML documents are stored in a XML Column named DOCUMENT in the GPX table. So now I just need to translate to XQuery something like “get me all the ScotiaBank branches that are in Markham”. As I’m not really interested in creating elaborate spatial queries but just in getting things done I decided a simple text search would suffice.

XQuery
  declare default element namespace "http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1";
  for $branch in db2-fn:xmlcolumn('GPX.DOCUMENT')/gpx/wpt
  where $branch/name/contains(.,'MARKHAM')
  return $branch

And now here are the ScotiaBank branches that exist in Markham:

Enough for me. I got the addresses and phone numbers, I can now go to google maps and check it out. However if the amount of data was significant you could use XQuery / XSLT / Yahoo Pipes / etc to transform the data into KML and load it up automatically either in any map viewer of your choice.

1. Drop all databases
   db2 "list database directory"
   # For each database (replace $db with actual name)
   db2 "drop database $db"
   
2. Login as the Administrative Server Owner (normally dasusr1) and stop it
   su dasusr1
   db2admin stop
   
3. Stop each of the DB2 instances that exist.
   e.g.
   su db2inst1
   db2 "force application all"
   db2stop force
   db2terminate
4. Remove the Administrative Server (replace V9.7 with current version. Install path might be different if the installation was personalized)
   sudo su
   /opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/instance/dasdrop
5. Drop all the instances
   e.g.
   #  still as root, sudo su. Repeat for each instance.
   /opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/instance/db2idrop db2inst1
   # just in case you feel like using db2inst1 again while avoiding those nasty SQL1005N.
   # reference: directory structure DB2 database Linux is available here
   rm -rf /home/db2inst1/sqllib
   rm -rf /home/db2inst1/db2inst1
   
6. Uninstall DB2
   /opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/install/db2_deinstall -a
   
7. The execution completed successfully. Congratulations!

To reinstall you can either use db2setup (quite comprehensive and easy to use GUI) or if our a real *nix ninja you might want to consider db2_install and manually configuring all the necessary users / authorizations / etc.

In case you feel like messing up your system so you can use my guide to un-install DB2 but you don’t have DB2 – I can also help you with that. DB2 Express-C is completely free and has no limitations other than a maximum use of 2GB of ram and 2 processors. Sounds nice – try it! [http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express]

If you would love to see blazing fast XML storage and querying you should also give pureXML a try [http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/db2/xml]. It comes bundled with Express-C with exactly the same capabilities as the Enterprise version of DB2. I’m thinking of writing a beginners guide to pureXML somewhere in the future in the blog – maybe after the masters thesis. I think that would get everyone really excited about this technology. Maybe some screen-casts!

Rails à Moda do Porto

Interrompo o minha ininterruptível e infindável tese de mestrado devido a surpresa do dia – Um screencast sobre Rails, em Português. A notícias surge do estaminé do José Mota. A qualidade é surpreendente e é sem dúvida um primeiro episódio que promete. Se estavas a espera de uma oportunidade de aprender rails e não sabes o inguelish está aqui a tua oportunidade para aprender. O link, esse está aqui http://jose-mota.net/2009/08/rails-a-moda-do-porto-episodio-1. Boas aprendizagens.

Afinal Portugal sempre tem algumas coisas de jeito.

I’m not even talking about the fact that they should open-source ALL the code and considering the implications of these kind of open-source arrangements (that are far more frequent than one would initially think). I’m just talking of relying on  open-source enthusiasts to improve their browser and than not even giving them the same that you get when using Windows.

Invalid:
{
"a": "/",
"b": "\\"
}

Valid:
{
"a": "\/",
"b": "\\"
}

Any thoughts? I noticed another little problem with the grammar:

{
"agent" : 007
}

While cool this is not valid JSON I mean we would all love the 007 number but, not in JSON! This might solve that problem:


Number : '-'? ('0'|Digit19 Digit+) ( '.' Digit+)?;
fragment Digit19
: '1'..'9'
;


Bottom line: Wouldn’t it be nice if the languages provided their own grammars so we all had a formal way of verifying if a string is (or isn’t) in a specific language?

References:

1. JSON Interpreter – ANTLR 3
   http://www.antlr.org/wiki/display/ANTLR3/JSON+Interpreter
   http://github.com/rdclark/json-antlr/tree/master
2. RFC4627: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation
   http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt

UPDATE: Richard Clarke already updated the grammar. Kudos to him for keeping up an open JSON Grammar and updating it as soon as any error is reported. See comments for his insight about the issue.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you’d just be
One more person crying.

So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only.

Liked it, here’s more (added other artists for those who still don’t love Dylan):

• Bob Dylan – Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
  
• Caetano Veloso – Jokerman
  
• Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
  
• Jack Johnson – I Shall Be Released (for all my closest friends)
• Alanis Morissette – Subterranean Homesick Blues (consider Blowin’ In the Wind a bonus)
• Tracy Chapman – The Times They Are A-Changin’
• Guns’n'Roses – Knocking on heavens door
• Norah Jones – I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (for you)

Uma aplicação interessante vinda de uma start-up Portuguesa. Nada de betas fechados nem convites, portanto se estão interessados podem dar lá um saltinho. Descrito em poupas palavras e sem as habituais buzzwords o lappiz é uma rede social – keep reading, tinha que ser dito – para partilha conhecimento académico (leia-se, universitário).

O fixe disto tudo é que não é dirigido a professores nem outros interesses que não o de dar aos alunos suma melhor maneira de comunicar e partilhar conhecimento. É um produto bastante completo e que – na sua iteração inicial – foi fundamental para o meu (relativo)? (in)?sucesso como aluno. Se continuar com a mesma filosofia terá de certo um futuro risonho.

Pontos negativos: Isso da autorização para adicionar amigos é coisa do passado. Agora é follow a quem me apetecer, com opção para block.

Caso estejam interessados em saber um pouco mais sobre a start-up (assim como nas muito habituais buzzwords) podem ler este artigo da TeK.

Me & Tony Avdiu

Before enrolling in my current position I had never considered an immensity of possibilities that exist in the computer industry. I had a very technical focus, always eager to learn the newest programming language, framework, technology, whatever. Just solving the next big challenge, and do it with a computer. While some had other hobbies I had technology (still do – guilty as charged)

Since joining I have been exposed to a lot of customer interaction and even had the opportunity to give lectures to clients and other IBMers on the PureXML. This week was the second time that it happened and a lucky bunch got to watch me, Tony and Susan presenting. It was a blast and I really enjoyed it. All the things that you can learn when you expose yourself to the world and better understand how such a complex industry work is something that I really value a lot. So to any students still enrolled in Universities – expand your horizons. It’s great that you love technology (if you don’t – well- then you might be in the wrong place) but there is a lot more out there than just the newest framework everyone is talking about. Focus on learning how to learn and making yourself a valuable person. Then just go “out there”, experience new a different things. Learn what you like to do the most and find a place where you can do it and be happy! In the meanwhile I’ll keep searching for my own place.